(upbeat music) (camera beeps) (upbeat music continues) (uplifting music) (uplifting music continues) - "Eye On Education".

I'm Fred Martino.

Two exchange students from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, visited Southern Illinois University Carbondale in June.

Isabella Rondina and Juliane Marani are both majoring in communications disorders.

The students have been immersed in academic clinical research and cultural activities, and we're gonna talk with them about their experiences today.

Welcome to you both.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, thank you so much.

- It is great to have you both here with us.

And I'm gonna start with kind of, you know, a really general question, Isabella, we're gonna start with you, to tell me a little bit about yourself and your decision to apply for this program, coming from Brazil, all the way to SIU Carbondale.

- I decided to apply for Carbondale 'cause has a different approach from speech therapy of Brazil, so it was really good for learn different experience and how speech pathology works here.

- Okay, very interesting.

So, students here are studying in the same discipline, but you're saying the approach is different- - Yes.

- From the approach in Brazil.

How is it different?

- In Brazil, only with the undergraduate we can work like speech pathologists, and here, we need to make the master degree for work with speech pathologists.

- I see.

- And we need to decide one choice.

We need to choose our speech pathology, who works with speech, or audiology, who works with hearing aids.

And in Brazil, we can be the both.

- Okay.

- It was a big difference.

- And you said, here, the students receive a graduate degree, a master's degree?

- Yes.

- Okay.

Interesting.

- For doing the same thing.

- For the same program, very interesting.

And I see you have a Saluki shirt on, you got a Saluki shirt, so that's very good for this program today.

Very interesting.

So, Juliane, your thoughts on this.

Tell me a little bit about yourself, and again, your decision to apply for the program.

- Well, as you said before, I'm a student from University of Sao Paulo, in my last year, and I decided to apply because I always wanted to do an exchange program at USA to get to know more about the culture, to get to know how it works here, and I had the opportunity because my university had a grant, and I received it, I got the opportunity to come here, and I'm loving it, I'm loving it.

It's such a great experience.

And as Isabella said, it's really different from Brazil, the way it works here, or profession, and it's been a really great experience to get to know more of the differences.

- Okay.

And Isabella, you were in the same grant program?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- In the same program.

- Same grant program.

Very interesting.

So Juliane, I'm gonna start with you for the second question.

You've been doing a lot of different things here, and we're gonna get to some of the others a little later in the show, but let's start with the academic and research work.

What stands out to you there?

- Oh, I guess the research work.

(laughs) We got the opportunity to see the research classes from Dr. Boyer, Dr. Valerie Boyer, and it's been an amazing experience.

Although in Brazil, at our university, we are stimulated to do research since day one, (chuckles) we get to university and they stimulated to do the research, but here, we see the differences, the approach of the research in different ways, so it's been really good to get to know the- - Give me an example of a particular research area that you've been able to explore here, and your interest, you know, particular interest, what research you're interested in.

- I guess there's no much difference in the way it's done, but it's different in, like, when you do, because in Brazil, we get to do it since day one in the undergraduation, and here, from the class we are in the degree, people here don't really like much research from what we see.

They want more to explore the clinician way.

So yeah, I guess it was a big difference that I saw.

- Is there a particular research area that interests you?

Particular topic?

- Not really, because the class was very general.

- Okay, okay.

- Yeah, so there wasn't a particular area.

- Okay.

Very interesting, okay.

Isabella, same question for you.

The academic, the research work that you're doing while you're here at SIU Carbondale, tell me about the experience.

- The experience has been so good 'cause we can make a lot of friends, and we start to learn more about specific statistics analysis.

So, we learned how to do our own statistic with one program on our laptop, and it's so good, 'cause in Brazil, we need people who specialize in statistical programs for do this, and now, we can do it by ourselves.

It's so cool.

- Wow, okay.

- And here, I'm so interested in the field of our autism spectrum disorder, 'cause SIU has a big center.

- Autism, autism.

Okay, so that's one that you're interested in for research.

- And it's so different, the way that they works, 'cause here, the speech pathologists use the argumentative and alternative communication, the AAC, who work with them.

So, they use normally an iPad with one software for talk with each other, their own necessities and what they need.

It's so good.

- Very interesting.

Okay.

And certainly, that's an area where I imagine there is an increasing need for research, because we have seen the prevalence of autism increasing.

- Yes, and it was the first time that I have contact with this kind of technology.

In Brazil, I never did this before, so it was the first time.

- Oh.

Very interesting, yeah.

And you mentioned iPads.

You have one today.

(laughs) Very interesting.

We use a lot of technology in academics and in research, so it's good to explore new things, and so that's wonderful to hear that that's part of your experience while you're here.

You know, one of the things I wanted to ask you today is universal to students who come to the US from other countries all over the world that I think is important to emphasize, and that's being multilingual, speaking multiple languages.

It's an incredible benefit in academics, and also in life.

And I wanna ask you, how has it helped you, Isabella?

- It's helped me a lot, 'cause when I start the first class, I can talk with each others and I can understand everything that was in the class.

So, it's amazing can has this difference of cultural language and improve our knowledges with different classes and cultures and people.

'Cause with this different cultural approach, we learn more about United States and speech pathologists here, and we can learn different ways from Brazil.

- Okay.

And in Brazil, your home country, is learning English a priority in terms of the educational system, as well as other languages, or no?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- The English is the priority than other languages 'cause I really believe that we need to learn English for can understand the rest of the world, 'cause everything, everyone works in English.

- Many, many countries.

Yes, I know that's the case.

I spent some time working in an exchange program in Germany, and I thought it was very interesting to hear how in Germany, all of the young people learn English and German, and usually one other language at least, so, many students speak three languages pretty fluently.

Is that the case in Brazil too?

- No.

- Two, just English and- - Yes, just English and Portuguese.

- And Portuguese.

- But the English I start to learn in specific classes by myself.

- Okay.

All right.

Very interesting.

Juliane, your thoughts on this, being multilingual, and how that has helped you.

- Well, as Isabella said, it's really good to get to know more language to make some friends and get to know more cultures.

And I got my first experience in high school, because in my high school, there was an exchange students there, there was a girl from USA, and also two Asian students, so it was my first experience to see how it's important to get to know more language.

And the second, it was here at SIU.

Isabella said it, by knowing English, we got the opportunity to be here, to get to know more people, and to be able to understand the classes.

So, it was amazing.

- Have you had an opportunity before this to be in a country where English was the primary lan- - No.

- No, so this was the first chance.

- Yes.

It was the first.

- Same for you too?

- No.

- No, you've been in another- - Yes.

- You've been again.

What was the other time?

- In the other time, I went to Disney World.

- Oh, to Disney World!

Okay, very interesting.

Juliane, this being your first time where you would be speaking English constantly, how has that been for you?

- It's been good.

(laughs) - Yeah!

Yeah, I mean, I would imagine it makes you more confident in your English skills to be able to use them constantly like this.

- Well, the first days, I was a bit of the opposite.

I was a little bit insecure.

- A little nervous?

- Yeah, a bit nervous.

But I guess it's been good.

(laughs) - Okay.

That's wonderful.

Obviously, this next question, Juliane, language is one of the answers.

How else has the program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale helped you grow your skills?

- Well, by the research classes.

We got the opportunity to do the statistic, as Isabella said.

And in Brazil, at our university, we don't have much access to do that part.

It depends which research you're doing.

So, my researches that I have been doing in Brazil, it's more focused on telehealth.

- On?

- Telehealth.

- Telehealth, okay.

- Yes.

Which, again, growing topic because of...

It really was put in the spotlight with the pandemic and COVID-19, a lot more people using telehealth.

So, this is very interesting, and I bet you're learning a lot through that research about the effectiveness and also the challenges of telehealth.

- Yes.

But my researches, I don't do with people, so I don't get to do more statistics, so I don't do a lot of statistics.

So, getting to learn here was very good.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- You know, I, in addition to doing work with the broadcast stations, I have, in my career, for decades, working at universities, had the chance to also teach in college, and I have found that students often struggle with statistics.

I know I did when I went through my graduate work.

It takes a while, doesn't it?

- Yes.

(laughs) - Yeah, so getting more experience is very useful.

- It's very useful.

- Did you find that as well?

- Yes, of course.

I learned here to improve my skills a lot of the autism spectrum disorder 'cause of the center, and I know a lot of new things now about the autism spectrum disorders and how it works, and how use the argumentative and alternative communication.

So, for me, improves a lot my skills around the autism spectrum disorders.

- Okay.

And what about statistics?

Is getting that chance to explore more with statistics and statistical analysis very helpful for you?

- Yes, it's really helpful for me 'cause I used to do a lot of research, and I need always someone to make the statisticals for me.

So now I can do by myself, it's better.

- You can do it by yourself, fabulous!

I still need a lot of help from technology, so, very, very challenging stuff.

We're gonna get to some fun things now.

I wanna start with you, Isabella, on the cultural activities you've been involved with.

Tell me what you've been doing and what you enjoy most.

- We visit some places, some natural places here.

For example, the Clyffe hike.

It's a beautiful place who has a waterfall when rain, but doesn't rain- - Ferne Clyffe?

- Yes, the Ferne Clyffe.

- Okay, you get to do hiking there, oh my goodness.

Wonderful state park.

- It was my favorite park here, 'cause I love a lot adventures, and in that place, we can make three kinds of trails.

Really different.

One of others has a lot of mountains and hiking.

I love it.

It was my favorite place here.

And it's fantastic, the difference of the nature here and in Brazil.

In Brazil, everything is green all the time and has a lot of sun, and here, it's different.

The time is different, the flowers different.

- Yeah.

- Everything beautiful.

I love it.

- Yeah.

You came at a green time, because we do get quite a bit of rain, and it's not the winter, when many of the trees lose their leaves, so if you like green, this was a good time.

(laughs) Also, Juliane, tell me your experience, the cultural experiences you've had, what you most enjoy.

- Dr. Boyer took us to Herrin at Italiana festival, Italian festival.

- Oh!

Okay.

- And it was my first time at a USA carnival.

- [Fred] The Italian festival in Herrin, Illinois.

- In Herrin, yes.

- Okay.

- It was really good.

- Bet you had some good food.

- Yes.

(chuckles) I tried a corn dog for the first time.

- (laughs) Okay!

Well, that's not Italian food.

- No.

- The corn dog.

But you've probably had some Italian food too, I bet, yeah.

- And we also visited Giant City Park.

- Giant City Park.

- Yeah, Giant City Park.

- Yeah, Giant City State Park.

- And it was beautiful.

Very beautiful.

- Another beautiful park, and has different types of beauty depending on what time of year that you visit.

I enjoy it in the fall when the trees have all different sorts of colors.

It's really amazing and beautiful.

Any other things that stand out for you culturally?

- Yes, we visit some local restaurants.

- Ah!

- We went to Quatro's- - Ah, yes.

- To eat some pizza.

(laughs) And also to Harbaugh's, if I'm pronouncing correct.

- Harbaugh's, yes.

- Yes.

Oh, it was amazing.

We loved it, we loved it.

- Okay, good, good.

That's wonderful to hear.

We grow in so many ways through travel and cultural exchange.

In addition to the things we've already talked about, other things you wanna highlight about this, more in general?

And maybe you even have examples from when you visited other countries other than the United States.

- Well, United States was my first country that I visited abroad.

I did went to Paraguay, but it was in a part of Paraguay that there was a lot of Brazilians, so there wasn't much cultural difference.

- [Fred] Yes, yes.

- So it's my first time experience it, and it's been really good.

I guess my shock, I think, cultural shock, was about the food here.

It's really different the way we eat in Brazil.

For example, for lunch in Brazil, we usually eat everyday rice, beans, and a kind of protein, and here, I saw a lot of people eating pizza, and for me, it's really different.

(laughs) - Okay, interesting!

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

So you have a different... You see different traditions here.

- Yes, yes.

- Okay, very interesting.

Isabella, you, as you said earlier, have been to the United States prior to this with Disney World.

How about that?

Tell me, in addition to the visit, the current visit, tell me about the previous visit and how you feel you've benefited from cultural exchange, visiting other countries.

- Visiting the different countries for me was really important 'cause I can see the difference about the countries.

So, when I went to Disney World, I don't was so focused on learning new things.

I just went for a diversion and have a good time, do a lot of plays, so it was a different time.

Now I'm here for study, for get some approach for improving my abilities in speech pathology, so it's really different aspects, but here, I'm missing so much the natural foods of Brazil.

- You're missing them?

Okay.

- Yes, I'm missing them, 'cause every food is so fresh, and we eat a lot of salads, and here, it's more different.

- Ah, okay, it sounds like you eat healthy there, too.

- Yes.

- Oh, wow.

Very interesting.

That makes me wanna go to Brazil to see what you're doing there.

I know that you helped prepare some SIU students who are going to be visiting your home university in Brazil, the University of Sao Paulo that I mentioned earlier.

Tell me about how you prepared them.

- Yes, we made kind of slides for helping them with little things like, don't forget the...

I forget the name.

With little things like don't forget the bag, the clothes, and with things more important like the health insurance, how was the priorities, and what we have to make for being here and do the things right.

- Okay, so making sure that when they visit, and this is very important when you travel, that you do have all of the essentials, carrying you with them along in a bag that you can always keep control of.

And also, as you mentioned, health insurance, which is one that a lot of people don't think about, even when they're traveling for fun, to check their health insurance policy and how does it work in another country?

It may be surprising for people.

So I'm glad you mentioned that.

I wasn't expecting that topic to come up today, but it's something very important to know when you're visiting another country.

You probably had to find that out, too, when you were visiting the United States.

- Yes, of course, and our health insurance needs to apply a lot of things about our visa type, 'cause we have the J-1 visa, and with this kind of visa, we needed to complete some values about the needs of the visa.

So, it's really specific.

- Very specific.

Juliane, give me your thoughts on how you helped prepare the SIU students who are going to be now going to your home country in Brazil.

- We met Melissa Valadez and another student who is going to go to Brazil, so we got two or three meetings, if I'm not wrong.

So, we talked to them a lot, and we talked a lot of Brazil, and they talked a lot of SIU, and we got the chance to exchange our experience.

And we talked to them what they could expect, expect from our universities.

And in our campus, we have cleft palate programs, and they are very interesting in this topic.

So, we talk a lot about that.

So, I guess we got then very more exciting to go.

(laughs) - Okay, so they're preparing not only for the cultural differences, but also knowing that research on cleft palate is something that is common in Brazil.

They'll learn more about that there, just as you learned more about the autism research, and so that's very interesting to hear.

I wanna start, Juliane, with you on this next question.

What else do you want people to know who are watching about your home country of Brazil?

- Well, here we got the opportunity to visit a lot of beautiful places, but in Brazil, we also have so many- - Many beautiful places.

- Yes.

- What are the highlights?

- We have a lot of waterfalls, and Isabella is a fan of waterfalls- - Oh, yeah.

- So she visit a lot.

- She saw on the Ferne Clyffe.

She mentioned that, yeah.

- So she can guide you, if you want, to go to waterfalls.

Oh, and I love the food.

I love Brazilian food.

- Yes, like Isabella, the healthy food.

Okay.

And fresh food.

- Fresh food, yes.

- Lots of fresh foods.

- Really fresh.

- Isabella, besides that wonderful food in Brazil, and now we know waterfalls, what else?

- I think that we have a beautiful culture, 'cause everybody's so lovely and careful about you.

So if you go to Brazil and start to meet someone, they will really happy, they will really enjoy to help you in wherever that you need.

So they are really careful with another one.

And it's a big difference from here.

'Cause in Brazil, we are more helpfully, and here, the people are more- - Outgoing, you're saying?

- Yes.

- So in Brazil, people are very outgoing and very friendly.

- Yes.

- Well, I've noticed that about both of you today, because the people watching this show do not know this, but I just met you right before we sat down to talk, but I feel like I've known you both for quite some time, 'cause you're both very friendly.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- (laughs) That is a... You're saying something that you see a great deal in Brazil, then, people are very friendly.

Well, this, you know, you're gonna be like cultural ambassadors for your country.

People watching this show are gonna wanna visit Brazil now.

(laughs) It was delightful to meet both of you today and let the folks who are watching this show meet you briefly and learn a little bit about your country and about your visit to learn here at SIU Carbondale.

Thank you both for being here.

- Thank you so much for having us.

- Thank you so much for the opportunity.

- So much fun.

Thank you.

We are out of time.

Thank you for being with us at home.

My guests were exchange students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Isabella Rondina and Juliane Marani are both from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

That's "Eye On Education".

For everyone at WSIU, I'm Fred Martino.

Have a great week.

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